Hvidovre
Encyclopedia
Hvidovre Kommune is a municipality (Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

, kommune
Municipalities of Denmark
This is a list of Municipalities of Denmark.-Region Hovedstaden:* Albertslund Municipality* Allerød Municipality* Ballerup Municipality* Bornholm Regional Municipality* Brøndby Municipality* Copenhagen Municipality* Dragør Municipality* Egedal Municipality...

) in Region Hovedstaden
Region Hovedstaden
The Capital Region of Denmark is an administrative region of Denmark established on January 1, 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which replaced the traditional counties with five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the...

 near Copenhagen on the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in eastern Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. The municipality covers an area of 22 km², and has a total population of 49,380 (2008). Its mayor is Milton Graff Pedersen, a member of the Social Democrats
Social Democrats (Denmark)
The Social Democrats , is a Danish political party committed to the political ideology of social democracy. It is the major coalition partner in Denmark's government since the 2011 parliamentary election, and party leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the current Prime Minister of Denmark...

 (Socialdemokraterne) political party
Politics of Denmark
The Politics of Denmark takes place in a framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy, in which the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system...

.

The main town and the site of its municipal council is the town of Hvidovre
Hvidovre
Hvidovre Kommune is a municipality in Region Hovedstaden near Copenhagen on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 22 km², and has a total population of 49,380...

. Other towns in the municipality are Avedøre
Avedøre
Avedøre is a south-western suburb of Copenhagen located in Hvidovre Municipality. The city is mostly made up of concrete blocks and row-housing. One major high-rise block called "Store Hus" dominates the suburb's skyline. The city has a relatively high rate of crime and many inhabitants are...

 and Friheden
Friheden
Friheden is a suburb in Hvidovre municipal, located 8 km south-east from central Copenhagen. The area is a working class suburb and most activity takes place around the Friheden S-Train station, where a shopping mall also is placed...

.

Neighboring municipalities are Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 to the east, Rødovre
Rødovre
Rødovre Kommune is a municipality in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. Its mayor is Erik Nielsen, a member of the Social Democrats political party who hold a majority of seats in the council.-History:The municipality was created in 1901 when the parish of Rødovre was...

 to the north, and Brøndby
Brøndby
Brøndby Kommune is a municipality in the former Copenhagen County on the east coast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 21 km², and has a total population of 33,831...

 to the west. Part of its eastern border are the waters of Kalveboderne, and to the south is Køge Bay (Køge Bugt). The southern-most section of the municipality, known as Avedøre Holme, juts out into Køge Bay and forms part of the entryway into Kalveboderne, the waters of which separate the island of Zealand from neighboring Amager
Amager
Amager is a Danish island in the Øresund. The Danish capital, Copenhagen, is partly situated on Amager, which is connected to the much larger island of Zealand by five bridges.-History:...

. Avedøre Holm houses two harbours.

The municipality was created in 1970 due to a kommunalreform ("Municipal Reform") that combined a number of existing parishes:
  • Avedøre Parish
  • Hvidovre Parish
  • Risbjerg Parish
  • Strandmark Parish


Hvidovre municipality was not merged with other municipalities by January 1, 2007 as the result of nationwide Kommunalreformen ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007).

History

In 1929, a 3,500-year-old sword from the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 was excavated in Hvidovre.

In May 1945, a few days before the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, a gun fight took place on the street of Hvidovrevej between Resistance fighters
Danish resistance movement
The Danish resistance movement was an underground insurgency movement to resist the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. Due to the unusually lenient terms given to Danish people by the Nazi occupation authority, the movement was slower to develop effective tactics on a wide scale...

 and members of the HIPO Corps
HIPO Corps
The HIPO Corps was a Danish auxiliary police corps, established in 1944 by the German Gestapo when the Danish police was disbanded and most of the regular policemen on September 19, 1944 were arrested and sent to concentration camps in Germany. Most members were recruited among Danish collaborators...

.

The town of Hvidovre

The town is a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 to Copenhagen, located ca. 10 km. southwest of the capital's center. It got its name from the fact that a white church could be seen in Hvidovre— hvid means "white" in Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

. This same naming principle also applies to neighboring Rødovre
Rødovre
Rødovre Kommune is a municipality in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. Its mayor is Erik Nielsen, a member of the Social Democrats political party who hold a majority of seats in the council.-History:The municipality was created in 1901 when the parish of Rødovre was...

 municipality where a red church could be seen— rød means "red" in Danish.

The city is well-known for its football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 team, Hvidovre IF
Hvidovre IF
Hvidovre IF is a Danish football club, founded on 15 October 1925 in Hvidovre.- Current squad :As of 2011-03-21...

, where famous Danish football players such as Peter Schmeichel
Peter Schmeichel
Peter Bolesław Schmeichel MBE is a retired Danish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and was voted the "World's Best Goalkeeper" in 1992 and 1993...

, Kenneth Brylle, and Michael Manniche
Michael Manniche
Michael Manniche is a retired Danish professional footballer who played as a centre forward.Even though he played for four different clubs in his country, he is best known for his spell with Portugal's Benfica.-Football career:...

 have played.Stephan Andersen
Stephan Andersen
Stephan Maigaard Andersen is a Danish professional football player, who plays as a goalkeeper for Évian in the Ligue 1...

 with a past in Charlton, have played for the club too. It is also the birthplace of young Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 defender Daniel Agger
Daniel Agger
Daniel Munthe Agger is a Danish footballer who plays for Liverpool and the Denmark national football team. He started his senior career at Danish club Brøndby IF in July 2004, with whom he won the 2005 Danish Superliga championship. The Liverpool fans have created a song for him to the tune of...

 and Thomas Kahlenberg
Thomas Kahlenberg
Thomas Kahlenberg is a Danish footballer, who plays as an attacking midfielder for German team Wolfsburg. He started his career with Brøndby IF, winning two Danish Superliga championship, and played four seasons at French club AJ Auxerre...

.

Film production camp Filmbyen
Filmbyen
Filmbyen is a film studio complex located in Hvidovre just outside Copenhagen, Denmark.Filmbyen is a former military base. It houses many film-related companies...

 (founded by Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....

 and Peter Aalbæk Jensen
Peter Aalbæk Jensen
Peter Aalbæk Jensen is a Danish film producer who in 1992 with director Lars von Trier founded the Danish film company Zentropa and later its huge studio complex Filmbyen....

's company Zentropa
Zentropa
Europa is a film directed by Lars von Trier. Released in 1991, it is von Trier's third theatrical feature film and is the final film in the Europa trilogy....

) is located in Hvidovre.

Twin city
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

: Rydułtowy

External links

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